Black and White in Color

It is more than 20 years since I saw BLACK AND WHITE IN COLOR, but this lovely and masterful film still stands out in my memory as a great movie-going experience. What remains after twenty years? The delicate sense of humor and irony which skewers the irrational nationalistic fervor that prevents people from seeing the truth before their eyes and the feelings in their hearts; the extraordinary beauty of the images drawn from the saturated African light; the awful sadness I felt, as comedy descended into tragedy, and I realized that this absurd situation was terribly real, terribly true.

I don't know if this film is available on video, but certainly , in whatever venue, it is an opportunity not to be missed.

In this biting satire on war, colonialism and racism, French troops in 1915 Gabon learn that their country has declared war on Germany. Knowing that there are German troops nearby, they decide to train the colonized Africans to fight. Only one person in the French contingent seems to have an iota of reason to his thinking.

I think that "Noirs et blancs en couleur" (called "Black and White in Color" in English) shows imperialism in its most pathetic, depraved form. Not only do the colonizers want the colonized people to fight for the empire, but there's one scene that especially emphasizes this. When some rich people go out for a picnic, they watch the fighting as though it's a spectator sport; a form of entertainment, if you will. But they get mighty shocked when they see how violent it is. Apparently, these colonialists are so completely brainwashed by their own pro-war, nationalistic propaganda, that they fail to realize how ugly war actually is, and they're in for a rude awakening when they find the truth.

Anyway, this is definitely a movie that I recommend. We could use some advice from it, what with the mess that we've made in Iraq. Certainly a good one for Jean-Jacques Annaud, and it definitely deserved Best Foreign Language Film.

This film stands in its caliber up there with Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), and Johnny Got his Gun. It is World War in a microcosm.

The film is not dated, nor will it ever be. All long as men fight for territory or for ideals, this film will stand among the top few as a testament to the idiocy and pettiness of war. Was not available for many years.

"Ich auch"-- closing line -- as the two lieutenants walk together off set-- burned in my memory from one viewing nearly 30 years ago. If you saw it you will remember.

...Nous Ouvre la Barrière

La Liberté Guide Nos Pas.....

Borrowing from one of the most famous military marches for its original title ("Black and White in color" became the title when it was awarded an AA),"La Victoire En Chantant" remained Annaud's best : bitter and utterly uncompromising qualities .At the time ,he had not been swallowed by the Hollywood machine and he did not need a Brad Pitt to flog his stuff.

His actors are not very famous on an international level but all of them are to be commended:Jean Carmet,Jacques Spiesser,Catherine Rouvel or Jacques Dufilho are all excellent thespians .

Africa 1915:the French colonizers do not know their country is at war.but a geographer learns the whole story and urges his compatriots to join the fight against those Barbarian Germans .There are Germans in the neighborhood,therefore they have become enemies.So let's enlist the natives and let's wage war through "black" intermediaries.

A brilliant metaphor of the absurdity of war,an excellent spoof on jingoist spirit .You should see the heroes having a picnic while their men go to be slaughtered.

Annaud's Black and White in Color is an ambitious film packaged as a modest anti-war satire. It meets and exceeds its ambitions, with an intelligent script that keeps us, the audience, fully in-the-know throughout. There is a satire of colonialism, of civilian zealots, of arrogance, of racism, of the Great War and politicians, of the emptiness of slogans and braggadocio, and also of the lust for power and the acquiescence of ordinary people to powerful people. The on-location filming in the Ivory Coast was a treat. It's a story that keeps us thinking all the time about what's absurd, what's realistic, and about knowing right from wrong.